Sergey Karpyuk

The article is devoted to an important event in the history of the study of antiquity in the Soviet Union, namely, the discussion of the chapter written by V.S. Sergeyev for “World History” which resulted in a sharp debate on the character of the Creto-Mycenaean civilisation (Moscow, the USSR Academy of Sciences, March 1940). Most of the participants argued against B.L. Bogayevsky’s considering the Creto-Mycenaean society as that of basically primitive communal type, and suggested its similarity to early slave-holding systems of the Ancient East. The discussion meant the final rejection of the 1920-s – 1930-s sociologising views and a turn towards the “pre-war stability” in the study of ancient history: unconditional acceptance of the “general line” as expressed in the “Short Course of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks” made it possible and relatively safe for the Soviet historians to engage in specific historical research.